UBS

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Swiss banking giant UBS has been handed another big fine after it mis-sold a savings product linked to the bailed-out insurer AIG.

In addition to the £9.45 million penalty from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the bank will also have to pay compensation of around £10 million to the consumers who were left exposed by the suspension of the AIG fund.

UBS was handed another fine today after it mis-sold a savings product linked to AIG. Credit: John Stillwell/PA Wire

The FSA said the bank had not understood the product it was selling, failed to recommend it to the right customers and did not take effective action when the financial crisis struck.

Tracey McDermott, the FSA's director of enforcement and financial crime, said UBS has "paid the price for its failures".

Swiss bank UBS has been fined £160 million by the Financial Services Authority, the largest fine ever levied by the City regulator.

The FSA said "at least 2,000 requests for inappropriate submissions" to the rates were documented, and at least 45 individuals, "including traders, managers and senior managers were involved, or aware of the practice of attempt to influence submissions."

The UBS penalty is the second-largest fine paid by a bank and comes a week after HSBC agreed to pay the biggest of £1.1 billion to settle an investigation in the US into laundering money for drug cartels.

We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behaviour. No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of this firm, and we are committed to doing business with integrity.

UBS became aware in September 14 2011, that unauthorised trading had taken place on the Exchange Traded Funds Desk in the Global Synthetic Equities (GSE) trading division in London.

Rogue trader Kweku Adoboli had disguised the underlying positions by the use of late bookings of real trades and the booking of fictitious trades.

In an email sent to chartered accountant William Steward he revealed the £1.4 billion losses he had caused.

It is with great stress and disappointment that I write this mail. First of all the ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) trades that you see on the ledger are not trades that I have done with a counterparty as I previously described.

I used the bookings as a way to suppress the PnL (profit and loss) losses that I have accrued through off book trades that I made.

I take full responsibility for my actions and the s*** storm that will now ensue. I am deeply sorry to have left this mess for everyone and to have put my bank and my colleagues at risk.